- 2 months ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Finland, home to 5 million people and 3 million saunas.
00:08Here, warmth isn't just a comfort, it's a culture.
00:12But now, the nation that has perfected staying warm in any condition
00:17is finding a new way to do it.
00:2450 metres below the streets of Helsinki,
00:26a hidden network of tunnels hums with the sound of machinery.
00:32Wow, so where are we?
00:33We are at the Helen heat pump station
00:36where we do cooling for the Helsinki data centres
00:39and we take the cool and sell it as a heat for the Helsinki households.
00:46Our guide through this underground maze is Olli Sörka, CEO of Helen,
00:51one of Finland's largest energy providers
00:54and the company turning data centre heat into power for the city.
00:59Here's how it works.
01:01Above ground, data centres, the engines of our digital lives,
01:05generate vast amounts of heat
01:07as they power everything from AI to streaming video.
01:11That heat is captured and piped into Helen's system
01:14where heat pumps raise its temperature even more
01:18and send it through the city's district heating network.
01:21The same system then returns cooled water back to the data centres.
01:27It's a test case for whether our growing digital appetite for energy
01:30can be contained.
01:33When you have partners like Equinix and Microsoft and Tellier
01:36come to you to work with you and partner with Helen,
01:39what are they getting exactly in that partnership?
01:42They have a problem with heat
01:44and they need to cool down somehow their premises
01:47and our job is to sell heat
01:50so the starting point for discussion is really good
01:54and in the end we can actually monetise their problem.
01:59Can you just unpack the business part of that?
02:02So in normal case, if you build up, for example,
02:04100 megawatt data centre,
02:07almost all of that power, practically all of that turns to heat
02:10and they need to get rid of that.
02:14They need to invest in heat pumps
02:16and all kinds of cooling equipment
02:18and if they cooperate with us,
02:21they don't have to do that investment.
02:23We do it for them and we take the heat out
02:26and on top of that we monetise the excess heat
02:30by selling it to our customers
02:31so they save all the cooling costs
02:34and it turns to business for us.
02:37So that's a big capex outlet for you
02:40and capex that they don't have to be putting
02:42and factoring into their spending plans.
02:44Exactly.
02:45The capex is needed but it's done by us
02:48and we can get a very good profitable business
02:52around that capex so it works for us.
02:55For the local community, the benefits are tangible.
02:59Electricity prices that sit below the EU average.
03:03Helen's newest partnership is expected to provide warmth
03:06for roughly 1,500 homes.
03:10We have been able to increase our profits.
03:14At the same time, we have now lowered our prices
03:17two times in a row during the last two years.
03:21The impressive progress in Helsinki
03:24is set against a challenging global backdrop.
03:28According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance research,
03:30data centres could consume about 4.4% of global electricity by 2035.
03:39If they were a country, they'd rank fourth in electricity use
03:43just behind China, the US and India.
03:46And cooling them already takes up nearly a third of that energy,
03:51according to the World Economic Forum.
03:53So this is the bus of the internet and our digital society.
03:58So in here, you have what we sometimes refer to as clouds.
04:03Helen manages the heat,
04:04but it's Equinix that runs the data centres,
04:07more than 270 of them worldwide.
04:11A data centre is a part of everything we do digitally.
04:14Regina Donato-Dahlstrom heads their Nordic operations.
04:17So inside of these are servers that are co-located
04:21by enterprise customers of Equinix
04:23and the connectivity, so connections.
04:27So all together, we host over 490,000 connections at Equinix.
04:33490,000 connections.
04:34And those connections and the work that's being done
04:37by these servers creates a lot of heat.
04:39You can feel it here in the data centre.
04:41It does, it does.
04:43Managing the heat is one of the larger parts
04:46in operating a data centre.
04:48The heat, a reminder that every click, stream and search
04:53has a footprint somewhere in the real world.
04:56Managing it is one thing,
04:58finding a way to use it sustainably is another.
05:02The way we measure our data centres
05:04is very thoroughly with efficiency measures
05:07per each square metre.
05:08That's on top of mind of any data centre operator
05:11because that's money.
05:12And it's also a proof point to how good of a data centre
05:16you have towards your customers.
05:18On top of that, we add back to the society
05:21in which we invest in infrastructure.
05:25Around the world, the race to build for AI
05:28is putting new strain on power grids
05:31and sparking a backlash.
05:33A Bloomberg analysis of wholesale electricity prices
05:37across the US found that electricity now cost
05:40as much as 267% more for a single month
05:45than it did five years ago
05:47in areas located near significant data centre activity.
05:52When you look at some of your competitors
05:53in the data centre field,
05:55is there ever a sense of frustration
05:56or kind of head-in-your-hands moment
05:57when you look at the fact that a lot of these
05:59data centre operators don't seem to be thinking
06:02about all the different components that go into it
06:04in terms of addressing the energy needs
06:05and the sustainability piece?
06:08No, saying that a data centre is a data centre
06:10is like saying a factory is a factory.
06:13We do co-location services for enterprises
06:16and I would say that respecting my peers
06:19in that part of the data centre industry,
06:22most of us do care about sustainability.
06:25I guess the critics would say
06:26in this rush to build out for AI
06:28that corners are going to be cut
06:30when it comes to energy and to sustainability.
06:34And I think in any of the technology waves
06:38that we've seen,
06:39whether that was IoT or 5G
06:42or building out broadband,
06:44yes, there are some that get it wrong,
06:45there are some that cut corners,
06:47there are some that think they've got it right
06:49and then actually the application
06:51of the services changes.
06:53I think this is no different.
06:54The question now is,
06:57can the race to get there first
06:59co-exist with the desire to get it right?
07:03Nowhere is that question more urgent
07:05than in the US,
07:07home to more than 5,400 data centres,
07:10more than all other major economies combined.
07:14And most of the electricity
07:15to run those data centres
07:17still comes from gas and coal,
07:19which are also expected to meet
07:21much of the country's new power needs
07:23over the next decade.
07:25Put simply,
07:26Finland may offer a glimpse
07:29of what's possible,
07:30but the real test
07:31is whether that model
07:33can scale worldwide.
07:35It's a question
07:36that Noah and Conje
07:37has put a lot of time
07:39into answering.
07:40The Finnish case is slightly different
07:42and across Scandinavia
07:43because they have a lot
07:43of existing heat networks
07:45and in a lot of other countries
07:47they're not as well developed
07:48for heat networks.
07:49Having said that,
07:50it is still possible
07:51to apply some of the learnings.
07:53One of the key ones
07:54is working with a utility
07:56or heat network operator
07:57that's keen and supportive.
08:00And Conje pioneered the technology
08:02Equinix uses here in Finland
08:04and says its applications
08:06could be endless.
08:08It's important to point out
08:09that the heat export
08:11will tend to only work
08:12in the right types of climates,
08:13so those climates
08:14where there is a need for heating.
08:15So it won't be applicable,
08:16for example,
08:17in Dubai or South Africa
08:19where it's a very hot climate.
08:21So it'll be probably
08:22mostly northern Europe
08:23and the northern part
08:25of North America as well.
08:26And so what tends to be
08:28the limiting factor
08:28isn't whether you can technically
08:30connect to the data centres,
08:32but it's usually whether
08:33there's a partner
08:33who's actually willing
08:34to develop a heat network
08:37and make the capital investment.
08:39Do you also do it
08:40because it's a valuable
08:41revenue stream?
08:42It's not a really
08:43significant revenue stream
08:44compared to the overall
08:45data centre business.
08:46So we're not looking
08:47at heat export
08:48as a new revenue stream.
08:49We're looking because
08:50it supports our customer
08:51sustainability,
08:52targets and reporting.
08:54It also helps the communities
08:55where we operate
08:56to cut carbon emissions
08:58and also to become
09:00more energy independent as well.
09:02And the model
09:03hasn't gone unnoticed.
09:06Microsoft,
09:07one of the world's
09:07largest cloud operators,
09:09is building its own version,
09:11expanding the idea
09:12at a massive scale.
09:15Ian Doherty leads
09:17the company's cloud operations
09:18in Europe,
09:19the Middle East
09:20and Africa.
09:21We're very proud
09:22of the project
09:23that we're working on
09:23in Finland.
09:25We're working with Fordham
09:26to leverage the waste heat
09:27from our data centre
09:28to decarbonise
09:30their local heating system
09:32and provide heating
09:33to local homes,
09:34over 250,000 local homes,
09:36in fact.
09:37In the data centre race,
09:39efficiency is the new currency,
09:41and even the world's
09:42biggest hyperscalers
09:43aren't immune
09:44from the pressure
09:45to balance growth
09:46with sustainability.
09:48Clearly AI is growing
09:49in its use case
09:51and diffusion
09:52across the globe
09:53and we're seeing that
09:53in our own business.
09:55And clearly,
09:56we need to do more
09:57of the same things
09:57in sustainability
09:58and contract further
10:00renewable energies
10:01and so there's a lot
10:02of great opportunities
10:03that we have ahead of us.
10:06Momentum is building.
10:07In Finland,
10:08almost 100 data centre operators
10:10are in discussions
10:11with Helen
10:12exploring projects
10:13that would feed
10:14their own excess heat
10:16into the city's
10:17energy system.
10:19What do you think
10:19your example says
10:21about Finland's approach
10:22to decarbonising
10:23its economy
10:24but growing
10:25at the same time?
10:27Well, I think
10:28and I hope
10:29we can show
10:30to the rest of the world
10:31that you can do
10:32the decarbonising
10:33in a profitable way
10:35because I don't believe
10:36it's going to happen
10:37if it's forced
10:38by state
10:39or EU
10:40or any other
10:41regulatory issues.
10:43You have to find a way
10:44how to go to CO2 zero
10:46so that you can make money
10:47with that.
10:48Then it starts to happen
10:49and I really hope
10:52we can be an example
10:53how that is done.
10:56In a moment
10:57when our digital lives
10:58demand more than ever,
11:00Helsinki offers
11:01a quiet reminder
11:03that progress
11:04isn't measured
11:05only in speed
11:06and scale
11:06but in the balance
11:08we keep
11:08as the world
11:09races ahead.
Comments